The Verge

Image: Marvel Studios We all know the feeling: you sit down in front of the TV, exhausted after a long day, only to become absolutely paralyzed by choice. There’s so much to watch and play that settling on one single thing to do can be a challenge. So we’re here to make your evenings a little less stressful. Throughout 2022 this page will be regularly updated with all of our favorite entertainment experiences — everything from the latest hit on Netflix to that open-world game people can’t stop talking about — to make those moments of choice that much easier. If you see a show, game, or movie in this collection, know that it’s an experience we fully recommend. Continue reading…

You won’t find Ye’s music in Peloton’s on-demand library. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Music is a big part of any Peloton workout, but Kanye West, now legally known as Ye, won’t be. Over the past few days, Peloton has removed hundreds of classes from its on-demand library featuring Ye’s music.In late October, Peloton began telling members that Ye’s music would no longer appear in new classes following the rapper’s antisemitic comments. However, previously filmed classes were left alone. Now it appears Ye’s presence has been entirely scrubbed from the platform.The classes first began disappearing on December 6th, according to unofficial Peloton fan site Pelo Buddy. The Verge also confirmed that searching for “Kanye West” or “Ye” no longer shows results on our Peloton Row review unit or on Peloton’s desktop site. The... Continue reading…

If you want the cheapest tier of Disney Plus, you’ll be suffering through some ads. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Disney Plus’ new ad-supported tier, Disney Plus Basic, is now available, which means I’m back for another blog about what ads look like in your streaming services. The tier itself didn’t surprise me too much; if you’ve seen ads on other web videos, actually watching Disney Plus’ ads won’t feel much different. But the service’s new pricing, including a price jump for no ads, means the ad plan isn’t a very good deal.Any ad content on Disney Plus is noted with a little “Ad” box in the bottom-left corner of the screen with a countdown showing how much longer you’ll have to suffer through it. You can pause an ad, though you can’t fast-forward through it. On the progress bar for whatever you’re watching, you’ll see little notches marking... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of failed crypto exchange FTX, loaned $27 million to Michael McCaffrey, the CEO of crypto publication The Block, to help it stay afloat, according to a Medium post from the site’s chief revenue officer, Bobby Moran. Bankman-Fried also loaned McCaffery $16 million, some of which helped him purchase property in the Bahamas, where FTX is headquartered, according to Axios, which broke the story.McCaffrey is stepping down from his position today and will be replaced by Moran. Moran writes that McCaffrey kept the funding secret from everyone else in the company until revealing it before Thanksgiving this year.

How much is that group chat in the window? | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge I have been somewhat unsure of what to make about The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times’ reports about text messages, sent on Signal, between rivals Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried around the time FTX went up in smoke. That’s because I am not entirely sure who leaked them or who stands to benefit. But I’m pretty sure someone leaked to both of those outlets because the reports went up within hours of each other. So someone wants everyone to know about this!Because I don’t understand what’s going on, I’m going to walk through these two stories, which are the same in broad brushstrokes, suggesting that the sourcing was similar. (As longtime readers know, reidentifying anonymous sources is one of my favorite games, though... Continue reading…

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Image: Square Enix It might be time to stop ragging on Forspoken. Yes, it has an abysmal name (that, upon reflection, is no more ridiculous than, say, Triangle Strategy or Live A Live), but after finally getting my hands on the demo that launched yesterday, there’s actually a solid game hidden under the layers of poor promotion and cringey dialogue.I’ll admit to not being particularly wowed by Forspoken during any part of its development cycle. It looked like a very generic action RPG whose only interesting feature was that it had the shiny veneer of being a PlayStation 5 exclusive with all the souped-up graphical impressiveness that entails. The marketing for the game was not the greatest, featuring dialogue that was memed to death (and not in the good... Continue reading…

Maezawa with the dearMoon crew and two alternates. | Image: Yusaku Maezawa On Thursday, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced the selection of an eight-person crew who will join him on a SpaceX mission around the Moon. Maezawa’s dearMoon mission aims to be the first private mission around the Moon, carrying artists and creatives on a SpaceX Starship.The crew consists of eight artists from a range of disciplines — it includes an EDM DJ, two photographers, a documentary filmmaker, and a YouTuber, along with other creative professionals.“I hope each and every one will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, traveling to the moon and back,” Maezawa said in a video about the announcement, which is translated from Japanese. “They will gain a lot from this experience, and I hope they... Continue reading…

A JetBlue plane takes off at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, United States, on September 15th, 2022. | Photo by Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images JetBlue is giving up carbon offsets for its domestic flights, shifting its focus instead to sustainable aviation fuels. It’s a step that could help the airline actually reduce its emissions rather than relying primarily on controversial carbon offsets to counteract its fossil fuel use.Back in 2020, JetBlue became the first US airline to voluntarily offset greenhouse gas emissions from all of its domestic flights. That effort ends in 2023, the company announced this week.The airline now plans to effectively cut its per-seat emissions in half by 2035. For flights to take off without generating as much pollution, JetBlue says its planes will need to run on sustainable aviation fuels [SAF].“JetBlue views SAF as the most promising avenue... Continue reading…

The PSVR2 headset. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge PlayStation VR2 preorders currently appear to be open to everyone with a PlayStation account, no special invitation required. When preorders first opened last month, you had to register ahead of time and then be selected by Sony to be able to put an order in for the PSVR2. But as of this writing, you can preorder Sony’s next-generation VR headset from the PlayStation Direct website and get it within a week of its February launch.I actually discovered this on accident Thursday night. I had registered for the preorder but, to my disappointment, never got an email. I figured it was a sign from the universe that I’d just have to get the headset at another time next year.But while I happened to be browsing PlayStation Direct, I noticed I... Continue reading…

Portal will look the best it ever has with an RTX 40-series GPU, but you definitely don’t need one to play the game. | Image: Nvidia and Valve A deal on a single PC game doesn’t usually rise to the top of our daily pickings of discounts, but it did today. Valve’s mind-bending and often hilarious puzzle game Portal costs a single dollar at Steam. This price cut is timed with Nvidia’s release of a big graphical overhaul of the game that adds optional ray tracing and DLSS 3 AI upscaling that’s best experienced with its pricey RTX 40-series GPUs. Thankfully, you don’t need one of those to play the game — far from it. It originally released in 2007 as part of Valve’s The Orange Box collection, and it’s compatible with Windows PCs, macOS, and the Steam Deck. Even the Portal Companion Collection containing Portal and Portal 2 for the Nintendo Switch is on sale, costing $13.39 ($6.70... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge FTX founder and former chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried said Friday that he will testify before the House Financial Services Committee next week.“I still do not have access to much of my data — professional or personal. So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like,” Bankman-Fried said in a tweet Friday. “But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th.”The decision follows a week of negotiating between Bankman-Fried and House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) by quote-tweeting each other on Twitter. Last week, Waters urged Bankman-Fried to testify before her committee at a December 13th hearing focused on his cryptocurrency... Continue reading…

Nothing’s first permanent store location will be opened on December 10th, stocking the tech brands Nothing’s Phone 1 and Ear Stick products. | Image: Nothing Nothing will open its first brick-and-mortar store in London’s Soho district later this week, offering products like Nothing’s Phone 1 and Ear Stick alongside a range of Nothing merchandise. Audio products from Teenage Engineering and “curated collections from fashion and design brands” will also be available to purchase.The Nothing Store is located at 4 Peter Street (next to Gosh! Comics and the Supreme fashion outlet) and will officially open at 11:30AM on Saturday, December 10th, following through on the London-based company’s promise to open before Christmas. Nothing has previously opened pop-up stores to sell its products, but this is the tech company’s first permanent shop. Image: Nothing A transparent,... Continue reading…

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images Keigh-3 but make it winter Continue reading…

Image: The Game Awards Tonight’s Game Awards was probably one of the more entertaining showcases in the event’s 10-year history and it has nothing to do with any of the games that swept the awards and everything to do with a guy and his flute.Al Pacino started the show, not with a bang but with a poorly legible whimper as the celebrated actor struggled to read the no-doubt tiny words of the teleprompter. Then Christopher Judge, in accepting the award for Best Performance for his incredible, soulful, and heartening performance as Kratos, rambled for a good handful of minutes longer than he should have. Though his speech was a bit awkward and long-winded, I firmly believe Mr. Keighley let Judge go on for as long as he did in order to keep the rest of the show... Continue reading…

Image: Square Enix To cap-off the barrage of announcements and trailers unleashed during The Game Awards was a new trailer and release date for the latest single-player installment of the Final Fantasy series. Game director Naoki Yoshida made his first ever appearance at The Game Awards to present Final Fantasy XVI’s newest trailer and shared the game’s release date — June 22nd.The Revenge trailer was very short but very bloody, revisiting one of the first moments of Final Fantasy XVI fans got to see. Because of all the blood, the trailer’s been slapped with a content warning meaning you’ll have to go to YouTube to watch.Because of the covid-19 pandemic, updates on the game have been sparse since its first announcement in 2020. But it seems like the... Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo The Super Mario Bros. Movie was once a mystery, with no more information except the handful of Hollywood hottest stars — and Chris Pratt — who landed a role. But after a new trailer reveal just last week, we’re getting yet another extended look at the movie, this time courtesy of The Game Awards. Keegan-Michael Key came out to introduce the brief clip with an extended bit about Toad’s white and red cap. It was a bit awkward, underscored by the sudden cut to Game Awards audience members who looked bewildered and confused. Funny, but for what feels like the wrong reasons.

Capcom Nestled in the pre-show, ahead of the Game Awards’ regular broadcast, Capcom announced the release date for Street Fighter 6 — coming June 2nd. While the date was formally announced during Geoff Keighley’s Winter E3 extravaganza, the date for SF6 leaked early, appearing on Amazon for pre-order with the official date.In addition to sharing when players can expect to get their hands on what is possibly the most colorful entry in the seminal fighting game series, Capcom also debuted new characters. In addition to the old boxer Dee Jay, Street Fighter 6 will welcome the tres chic Manon, the stately looking JP, and the fierce muscle woman Marisa.Described as a fighting game “everyone can play” by game director Takayuki Nakayama, The Verge... Continue reading…

Not pictured: someone playing Fortnite. | Owen Grove / The Verge If you’re waiting for Fortnite in VR, don’t hold your breath: Epic Games “has no plans” to build it, CEO Tim Sweeney tells The Verge in our new interview. The reason? Sweeney just doesn’t think it’d work well. “The thing that we do in Fortnite every day as gamers is run through an environment rapidly, and it’s the kind of experience that involves intense motion and doesn’t work as well in VR,” he says.Sweeney also says Epic would be happy to collaborate with a company like Meta on other metaverse projects, though it seems likely that Mark Zuckerberg would disagree about a Fortnite-like game not being suitable for virtual reality. Last year, Meta acquired the developers of Population: One, a game for Oculus that involves a lot of running,... Continue reading…

Image: The Game Awards Among Us’ Hide ‘n Seek mode finally has a release date, and it’s coming really soon. You’ll be able to play the new mode beginning December 9th, developer Innersloth announced at The Game Awards 2022. Innersloth first announced the mode in 2021, and it seems like a delightful new reason to jump back into Among Us if you haven’t played in awhile.The new update won’t just have Hide ‘n Seek; Innersloth also says it will add new “surprises to survive from,” new cosmetics, the ability to pet your pets, and... screaming? The new additions mean I’ll probably be jumping back in with my friends and family over the holidays.

Acknowledge, empathize, redirect. | Image via Daniel Kwan (Twitter) Famous people will often stand by — or worse, dogwhistle — as armies of fans wage war on their behalf. Whether you’re a pop star or a tech bro, it’s part of the playbook. But when Everything Everywhere All At Once co-director Daniel Kwan got wind his fans were raging against critics who snubbed the film in Best Movie lists, he decided he wasn’t going to stand for that.His response is practically pitch-perfect:

Former Theranos President Sunny Balwani was sentenced to almost 13 years in prison. | Image: Getty Plus lots of new content for old games. Continue reading…

Geoff Keighley is once again hosting The Game Awards. | Photo by JC Olivera / Getty Images It’s almost time for gaming’s annual end-of-year awards and announcements extravaganza. The 2022 edition of The Game Awards takes place on Thursday, December 8th, and the opening act kicks off at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT. While the show itself takes place live at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, you can stream the event for free on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. For a more detailed list of where to stream the show, check The Game Awards website.We don’t know exactly how long The Game Awards will be, but host Geoff Keighley said in a Twitch stream that the main show will last about two and a half hours. That’s a good thing, if you ask me; the 2021 Game Awards, including pre-show, was a nearly four-hour event.Depending on where you... Continue reading…

Motorola skipped a 2022 edition of the G Play and is pole-vaulting straight into 2023. It’s an easy bet that most new phones announced in 2023 will come with 5G, but there’s going to be at least one LTE-only device on shelves next year: the $169 Motorola Moto G Play (2023). It’s the latest edition of Motorola’s budget-tier phone since the 2021 G Play, and it comes with an updated screen and camera array — but nary a 5G band on its spec sheet.The 2023 Moto G Play sticks with a 6.5-inch LCD screen but increases the refresh rate to 90Hz. It’s still a low-res 720p panel, which is likely to have more of an impact on viewing experience than a slight boost in refresh rate. The main camera gets a meaningful boost to 16 megapixels (up from 13 megapixels) with a brighter f/1.22 lens (compared to f/2.0).It comes with a MediaTek... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The FTC has filed a legal challenge to try and block Microsoft’s plan to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, according to a press release from the regulator. The lawsuit was filed today after weeks of back and forth between Microsoft, Sony, and regulators over competition concerns and the future of Call of Duty. The FTC argues that the acquisition would “enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.”The vote from the FTC commissioners today means Microsoft now faces significant hurdles to getting its Activision Blizzard deal complete. Regulators in the UK and EU are also scrutinizing the deal closely, despite Microsoft’s repeated... Continue reading…

Stephen King has granted Mike Flanagan the rights to create a TV show based on his The Dark Tower book series. | Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images Rights to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower books into a TV series have been acquired by director Mike Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy, according to an exclusive interview with Deadline. Within the interview (which explored the horror duo’s production company Intrepid Pictures moving from Netflix to Amazon), Flannagan confirmed that King himself granted them the rights after receiving a “very, very detailed outline” of Flanagan’s plans for the project.The horror duo is best known for creating Shows for Netflix, such as Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House, and have previously worked together to adapt other works from Stephen King, including Doctor Sleep (2019) and Gerald’s Game (2017). The pair acquired the rights for The... Continue reading…

This is what Google’s foldable Pixel smartphone might look like. | Image: OnLeaks and HowToiSolve New leaks appear to reveal what to expect from Google’s long-rumored foldable phone. Leaker OnLeaks has teamed up with the website HowToiSolve to share renders, a 360-degree video, and measurements of the foldable Pixel device.According to OnLeaks and HowToiSolve, the phone will apparently have a 5.79-inch cover screen and a larger 7.69-inch inner screen, meaning it will function more like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, which has a cover screen, than Microsoft’s Surface Duo phones, which do not. Unfolded, the Google’s device will be “roughly” 158.7 x 139.7 x 5.7mm. For comparison, the Z Fold 4 is 155.1 x 130.1 x 6.3mm, so the Pixel foldable could be a bit bigger than Samsung’s.As for the camera, Google’s foldable will apparently keep the... Continue reading…